Talks between the Premier League, Football League and media organisations over match coverage are back on after a week-long stand-off, leaving just 48 hours to hammer out an agreement before the top flight club season starts.

The two sides broke all contact last Wednesday after talks over an agreement – which includes where news media outlets can syndicate material, the speed of publication of pictures and the extent to which readers can engage with online content during a match – acrimoniously broke down when the football bodies walked away from the table.

The coalition of media organisations – which include most national newspapers as well as agencies such as Reuters, Press Association and Getty Images – cut back coverage of the opening weekend of the Football League season and the first round of the Carling Cup after being locked out of grounds following a refusal to sign a temporary extension to the existing deal.

Negotiations resumed on Wednesday afternoon, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

It is thought that despite the acrimonious dispute there is common ground between the two sides that increases the chances of a deal before the Premier League kicks off on Saturday.

Demands from the media organisations – represented by the Newspaper Publishers Association on behalf of most national titles and the News Media Coalition, which includes news and picture agencies, around live match reporting and the use of social media – are not poles apart from a position thought to be acceptable to the sport's governing bodies.

Both sides agree that the current deal is outdated: the existing agreement dates back to 2003-04, two years before Twitter even launched. A source close to the football bodies rejected the idea that they were trying to hold back the rise of digital media coverage.

"We are not dinosaurs and we understand the mutually beneficial relationship we have with newspapers," said the source. "Journalists will have greater freedom to tweet etcetera under the proposed new agreement."

While disruption of coverage to Football League matches may have caused some consternation – the Times and Daily Telegraph published scathing attacks on the footballing bodies, while sponsors' names were cut from many newspaper reports – the stakes for both sides are infinitely higher when it comes to the Premier League.

"There aren't any issues where there isn't a middle ground somewhere and both sides know that," said one source close to the negotiations. "Two-and-a-half days is plenty of time to reach a deal and it is in the interests of both sides to do so."

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.